Engage and Motivate Your Students After a Holiday Break

Studying can be a challenge from the very beginning or it can become a burden with some time. That is the main reason why students lose interest and need some motivation.

But motivation can also be necessary after some breaks as it is very difficult to re-charge after long periods of rest and relaxation. Though it may seem that holidays are created for rest, when they come to an end you feel as if a squeezed lemon and there are hardly any strengths to continue education. Winter holidays are extremely bright and memorable as there are numerous festivities held during them, but the task of each teacher is to revive students and involve them into educational process engaged and motivated. Here are some suggestions how a teacher can increase students’ motivation after a winter break and make studying more productive.

1. Use engaging material

It is natural that studying will be interesting only if it is well-organized. It is impossible to engage students if you always use the same learning materials and approaches. The more various teaching methods and ways you will offer to the students, the more inspiring education will seem for them. Never stick to a standard procedure as each of us gets fed up with the same routine and wishes to have some diversity and engaging materials can play their role.

Such materials can also be something to look forward to. If you reward your students with some exclusive tasks like movies, treats or free home-assignment pass, they will be more involved in learning.

2. Praise students for their achievements

Each person appreciates when his efforts are recognized by other people. And even if not everything is performed perfectly, students require praise in order not to lower their hands the nest time. Praise is a mysterious thing that promotes positive emotions and good mood that reflect the desire to study.

Teachers can not only give excellent grades but also write positive notes to parents, organize awards for good achievements, let students avoid some tests or exams etc.

3. Divide classroom chores among students

Though it may seem that doing jobs has nothing to do with motivation, it is not truth. Offering your students to join classroom activities you make them closer to yourself as well as teach them organization. In addition, they will be able to show their interests and skills. A teacher can offer his students such classroom jobs:

Some of these tasks can improve the whole classroom, atmosphere as well as keep students busy.

4. Share some control and power

There is nothing more pleasant for students than being empowered by a teacher to control other students. Taking ownership students have more desire to be empowered for the next time and it can be a perfect encouragement for them to study better and confirm their suitability.

5. Offer more examples related to students’ lives

Children and teenagers are tired of customary examples offered in the text books. It is much more interesting to remember a bright example from our everyday life than recollect everything written in the book. Memorable events and impressions stick in our mind for a longer period of time and that is the main reason why a good example from life can be much more productive than thousands of learned by heart rules.

6. Set short-term goals to be easily achieved

It is important to work without long-term objectives but not all of them are possible to implement in life. That is the reason why numerous short-term goals that are more likely to achieve should be set regularly. You can make up a list of several goals the achievement of which will bring you to the desirable aim and guarantee you better motivated students.

7. Promote self-development

Teachers should take care of their pupils not only in the school building but also encourage them to the development outside the school. If your kids would read much and learn much new at home, these children will succeed in studying and it will be much easier for them to fulfill any task. Teachers can also offer students self-evaluation forms to fill in and by doing so they will realize that they lack one or another skill and pay attention to its development.

8. Reward any positive behavior inside and outside the classroom

Not only studying itself shows how developed a personality is. Numerous activities and efforts outside the classroom should be also marked by the teacher to set an example for other pupils. Either these are extracurricular activities or some services for other people — all of them can encourage other pupils to make a try and start doing something useful. Such positive behavior can be rewarded with class trips or visits to the museum, theater, cinema, but an immediate reward for good activities must be given obligatory.

9. Stick to a school schedule

Though it may seem that routine can’t be motivating, it is impossible to achieve anything significant without a detailed plan. School schedule is a very important thing as students must know what awaits them next. Being aware of the challenges that wait for them in future and realizing that they are capable of coping with them students will feel more motivated to finish the studying year and concentrate on their education better.

Winter break is a perfect time to rest before a new semester. It is not a long-term period but it makes students so relaxed because of numerous festivities that they lose a sense of reality and desire to continue education. That is why it is incredibly important for a teacher to motivate students to study well. Moreover, this motivation should be with a long perspective for it to be enough till the end of the studying year as the most difficult period always comes at the end. Following these tips each teacher can ease lives of students and make educational process more productive.

Here’s a bonus inspiration for the teachers:

What tips do you have hidden in your sleeve? Would you use any of the suggestions above?